And then the bad guys were high
by Belisse
Summary: Atlantis is caught with its pants down… to the ankles. Last in the Friends are Foes Series, with that comes romance many pairings but the main one is SW, humor, violence, group whump and an evil bad guy.
1. Chapter 1

Title: And then the bad guys were high 

**By: Belisse**

**Spoilers: Season 2 **

**Pairings: Shep/Weir, Beckett/Cadman, and pre Ronon/Teyla. The pairings will be there, but any romance or fluffiness will be kept to a minimum. This is an action fic, with the touch of humor from my Series.**

**Genre: Humor/Action/Adventure**

**Summary: The bets were a long time ago; the ultrasound gel is safely locked up. All the paintball guns were just confiscated and the orange berries deemed dangerous. What else is to happen? Atlantis is caught with its pants down… to the ankles. **

**Rating: I'll go with PG-13 or T+ just in case.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SGA or Sheppard, I only wish I did. I only own Stella.**

**A/N: This is the 7th and last installment in the Friends are foes series. I wanted some closure on the Series so this fic came up. This fic IS a sequel of everything up to date, from the bets in the beginning, the relationships along the way. Stella and the effects of certain fruits. I will try to make it look like a stand alone, but having the background info might be good. If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, then go by my profile and is all there. **

**Enjoy!**

**0-0-0-0-0**

**Chapter I: Catching up **

No one knew that a mere glass of water was going to be the reason Colonel John Sheppard would be able to keep Atlantis safe once again. From all their experiences, John should have known better than to trust a single glass of water. But logic told him that there was no danger on it.

The team was once again on the Salacy planet. The trade negotiations with the Salacy people were always a pleasure and this day it was no exception.

They had came in early, had the proper feast with the elders. Which meant that they ate only meat as anything else could be a potential aphrodisiac. After the feast they talked about the last trade and then they were invited to the wedding of the Leader's daughter.

They had no intention to make these people feel insulted, so they accepted. Everyone went, except Ronon who decided to stay with the Jumper. Sheppard had reluctantly allowed him to stay, but he was on the alert as it had become a challenge keeping Ronon from eating any kind of fruits.

John had seen all the trees where all the blue fruits came from and he smiled at the memory. But then he flinched internally as he remembered that all the government high officials might have seen the tapes that captured the events of that day. And those who hadn't seen it, they had definitely heard about them. His last visit to earth had been a nightmare, because he had to stand in a room with said officials and explain what happened. At least he wasn't alone as all the high staff of Atlantis was in that meeting. But that didn't take away the embarrassment.

The wedding was a bit different to what he was accustomed to, but that didn't take away the fact that the ceremony was a good one. The Colonel walked around the area and stopped at the food table. He picked a glass and filled it with water. But before he could even think of drinking it, Rodney appeared at his side and took the glass from him.

"Thanks" Rodney said practically oblivious to John's glare.

"You're welcome" John replied with a hint of sarcasm. Then he proceeded to take another glass and drink the water before Rodney decided he wanted a refill.

John looked around and sensed that this would be a good time to leave. Because the only thing that could bring trouble among the Salacy is that they are too in touch with their sexual side. Everything they had to eat, the team couldn't touch. So, there was a moment where the wedding went from a nice party to what it looked like the beginnings of a free for all orgy. That's when John decided to call it a day and leave the place.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

For a moment Ronon Dex didn't know how to feel or react. He was on a very nice planet, with very nice people but Sheppard kept insisting that he couldn't touch any food. But when he asked why, no one gave him a straight answer.

Ronon was starting to get confused and curious as to why in the heavens, when he asked about why not eating the fruits; he had always the same reaction. Teyla would blush and look a bit sad, Rodney would start stammering and Sheppard would laugh. The issue was annoying Ronon to the core.

The Colonel had ordered him to watch over the jumper as they loaded the thing with the trading goods while they attended a wedding ceremony. They did it as a sign of friendship, but Ronon was not in the mood to be in a ceremony like that and he stayed with the jumper without complaints. While he waited, his eye caught up to a nearby tree and the mysterious blue fruit.

He wondered what could be so wrong about a fruit that looked so edible. He looked around once more and walked towards the tree. He grabbed one fruit in his hands and was about to take a bite when he heard someone shout; "What the hell are you doing?"

Ronon turned around and glared at Sheppard. "I want to know what is wrong with it."

Rodney and Teyla were just behind John. Rodney stared at Ronon, his tone sarcastic, and said "As much as it would amuse me, I don't think that seeing you hump a tree is something I could live with."

Teyla grinned and Ronon frowned, he had no idea what the scientist just said. Before he could say anything back, John intervened. "The thing is Ronon that we had an incident in Atlantis a couple of months before you arrived. These can make you feel as if you are in mating heat. Believe me, you don't want to go thought it alone."

Ronon nodded almost satisfied with the explanation, but still he made sure no one was watching and pocket it the fruit.

Then Colonel said the proper goodbyes to the leaders and in no time they were heading back to Atlantis. John was feeling a bit hot, but he assumed that it was only the long day. Because he didn't had anything in the planet that was out of bounds for them but then he assumed it was nothing that a warm shower and a comfy bed wouldn't resolve.

The trip back was made in silence; everyone was tired from their day at the planet. Then the jumper softly touched the floor of the bay and there was Elizabeth waiting for them. "Welcome back! Colonel Sheppard I need to speak with you."

The team went on their separate ways and John approached Elizabeth. "What's going on?"

"The Daedalus arrived two hours ago."

John made a face, "So… lonely nights for two weeks."

Elizabeth smirked. "I'm afraid so, and Colonel Cadwell wants to have a meeting with us."

John frowned, "Us as in…"

"Just you and me."

John passed his hand through his hair, "Do you think he knows?"

Elizabeth looked at her watch and back at John, "I don't know, but if he says anything about it I will develop a mild case of amnesia."

John smirked, "Ok."

Seeing his reaction Elizabeth turned to leave, "The meeting is in two hours, I expect you to be there on time."

John took his things and headed walked right behind Elizabeth, "Don't worry, I'll be there."

Once out of the bay, Elizabeth made her way back to the control center, and John turned towards the living quarters area. He was heading straight towards his room, when he was distracted by the sounds coming out of the rec room. Somebody was deep into a video game, and by the sounds of it was an action game.

When he entered the room Stella Roig was slumped on one of the couches, playing the game heartlessly. "Hey, you're back." John said as he approached the sofa. Then he picked the box on the table, the name of the game was Kill Switch. John placed it back on the table and sat down besides Stella. "I didn't know you liked this kind of games."

Stella stared at the game and replied, "A girl can dream right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I stay here all day messing with the cameras, doing everyone's laundry while you go off world and do all the exciting work."

John could only stare at her, "Exciting? Do you think getting my ass kicked by a cranky alien is exciting?"

Stella sighted before answering, "Yeah, you're right."

"How was your vacation? How's Bates?"

Stella seemed to freeze for a moment. Pausing the game she lowered the control and glanced at John, "Actually my vacation went quite well. I went back to earth, did some shopping, and went to the beach. Mostly girly stuff then my boyfriend left me and I arrive back to the city after a trip with the Colonel from hell only to find out that I'm four paintball guns short. My life is awesome; just throw me to an incoming wormhole."

"Oh, come on. I'll get them back."

"I thought I left them with you as a safe keeping, not to have them confiscated by Dr. Weir!"

John frowned, "Who told you?"

Stella stood up and turned off the game, "It doesn't matter, forget it." Then she turned around and left. Leaving John feeling a bit bad for her on top of his now spinning brain. He felt a bit buzzed, which he didn't understand, because made sure he hadn't touched any weird food back on the planet. Once his brain stopped spinning, he cursed, stood up and walked towards his room.

Two hours later, John walked into the briefing room, Elizabeth was already seated and Col. Cadwell was arriving as well. John nodded to the Colonel and headed for his seat. Elizabeth and John waited for the Colonel to begin; they didn't know what this meeting was about. But they didn't want to give away anything by speaking first.

Colonel Caldwell sat on the other side of the table and stared at the leaders of the city. "We need to discuss certain behavior that I've noticed in my short stay here," –He placed his hands on the table and continued- "we discovered a box full of alcohol inside the Deadalus."

Elizabeth and John eyed one another, John almost sighed in relief, but he managed to keep himself in check. He put on his most serious face and replied, "Do you know who the owner is?" John knew that, it was one of the boxes that had been ordered for the big celebration. The guys were going to be angry.

Caldwell stayed silent for a minute and replied, "If I knew we wouldn't be having this conversation. Someone is bringing alcohol into the city, I though we were here to gain the knowledge of the Ancients, not to transform their city into an intergalactic bar."

They remained silent for a few seconds when John decided to speak up, "But that's not the only thing that's bothering you. Right… sir?"

Caldwell sat up straight and eyed them with a suspicious glare, "I know you two gave an authorization for a party here in the city."

"So?" Elizabeth blurted out before she could control herself.

"Excuse me?" Caldwell asked.

"What is so wrong with me allowing the people who live and work on this city, to have a small social event? After all they are the ones who are getting that knowledge you desperately crave. They do deserve a break. And besides, no one will be abandoning their work, as the ones that are allowed to go are those who are off duty. There wasn't any alcohol in my list, but I imagine some might have gotten a little over enthusiastic over this party. I don't blame them though; after all we've been through."

The Colonel shifted in his seat, "I will report this to the SGC."

"I will open the gate and tell them myself. You will be here for two weeks Colonel, the party is in two days and you're more than welcomed to attend. But don't you ever come in here to tell me what to do."

With those words, she stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Sheppard and Caldwell alone. Caldwell seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment and then he murmured, "I pity the man who falls for her."

"Really?" John blurted out before he could keep himself in check.

Caldwell frowned and gave John a weird look. John gave himself a mental kick then quickly stood up. "Are we done, sir?"

Caldwell eyed him suspiciously then replied, "Yeah, go."

Without thinking it twice John walked out of the briefing room.

-0-0-0-0-

Elizabeth had gone first to her office, but she needed to cool down so she headed toward her room. Right before arriving she heard someone calling her name. It was John, and Elizabeth confirmed it when she turned around to face him.

"That was close." John said.

Elizabeth smiled at the statement and replied, "I know… for a second there I thought that he was going to talk about us."

"Me too." John replied as he shot Elizabeth a pleading gaze.

Elizabeth grinned at him, as she already knew what he was about to say.

"So, we really can't share a bed?"

Elizabeth frowned, "Are you that needy?"

"Yes… NO! Is just that two weeks….."

Elizabeth shot him a glare, "John, is not like I'm asking you to take a vow of abstinence."

John placed his head on Elizabeth's shoulder and made a mock cry, "I don't want to."

Elizabeth had to roll her eyes, "Don't be so childish."

John tried to put up his most serious face and replied, "Then don't blame if there's an alien goddess, princess or glowing being that falls for my charms."

"What ever you say Colonel, but remember who gives the orders here." Elizabeth said giving John a wide smirk.

John just stood there and stared at Elizabeth with a surprised expression. Then she turned and walked away towards her room.

John didn't know what to say, so he smirked, turned around and walked away. He decided to go straight towards Rodney's lab. He knew that the guys will get mad at the situation. But someone had to tell them, maybe that way they could find a way to make the night more interesting.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The ship was two days away from its final destination. The people of Atlantis were in for the surprise of their lives. Not only had his people managed to get a working spaceship from the recently fallen Olesian planet. But some new weapons as well, no doubt that the fight for Atlantis will be a swift one.

That he knew for sure, Acastus Kolya was confident on his new plan, for the ultimate revenge.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Before I continue I want to ask you to bear with me on the first chapters. I haven't written anything for this series based on season 2. So I feel the need to give at least a hint of what's been going on with their lives. Hopefully I'll make another update sometime this week, and I swear I'll get to the action. In the meantime, enjoy!**

Chapter II

John headed towards Rodney's lab in order to give the guys the bad news. Part of the contraband was lost because of Caldwell, and the guys were going to be angry. Once John stepped into the lab, he found Rodney on his desk, writing note on a notepad while looking at his computer screen.

"Hey," John said.

Rodney looked up from his computer and replied, "How was the meeting?"

John let of a grim sigh. "We lost a box of alcohol, Caldwell's men found it on the ship."

Rodney slumped on his chair. "Well, that sucks."

"Big time, but luckily they don't know there's another box, and we have the medical beer and that thing Zelenka does."

Rodney placed the note pad on the table, "But what about the reunion itself?"

John relaxed a bit, "No worries, Elizabeth told Caldwell that it was for morale and that we're having it whether he likes it or not."

Rodney's eyebrows arched, "Go, Elizabeth!"

Then John felt it again, he was feeling the same buzz and suddenly the room got really hot. John massaged his forehead and looked at Rodney. The scientist was looking a bit how John felt. Rodney breathed deeply and said, "Is it me or did it got hot in here?"

John only nodded as the buzz went away. Then he moved towards the door, "Well, hopefully we'll be able to have a decent party. I'm off, see you tomorrow Rodney."

Rodney waved a John and went back to work.

On the way towards his room, John walked past an open balcony door. He peaked outside and found Stella sitting on a beach chair, with her feet on the rails. There was an empty chair beside her, and without saying a word, John sat down beside her.

He was silent, until she passed him a bag of marshmallows and said. "Peace offering?"

John looked at the bag and took it.

Stella now turned her head to glance at John and said, "I'm sorry I snapped out earlier."

"Don't worry, you had a reason to be angry in the first place," John said as he fetched his first marshmallow, "So what happened with Bates?"

Stella seemed to consider his question for a moment, took the candy bag from John and replied, "I'd rather not talk about that."

"Sorry…"

"Don't be." They stayed in silence once more, until Stella said, "I heard you almost turned into a big bug."

John flinched at the comment and the memory, "Can we please not talk about that."

"Ok…" Stella fell silent for a minute, then added. "So… what did you do?"

John frowned, "Do what?"

"With the guns, I guess that for you to have them confiscated… well I'm pretty sure it was something big."

John's face relaxed and he grabbed another marshmallow, "Shortly after you left, I invited some of the guys, we planned going to the mainland. But there was a lot of work here after the siege. So we went into the lower levels, the group was Major Lorne, Sergeant Stackhouse and Dr. Zelenka."

"The Doctor Zelenka?" Stella asked in surprise.

"I know; he doesn't seem the type, right? But he has a better sense of humor and aim than Rodney. Anyways, we started playing, things got out of hand, Elizabeth had to intervene and… she ended up with a bump in the head and red hair."

Stella let out a loud laugh, "I would give anything to see that now. Not what you did to Dr. Weir, but your face after."

"Hey!"

"That should've been fun to watch."

John smiled and looked down, "It was… too bad Ronon wasn't here yet. Playing with him should be a challenge."

Stella frowned, "That's the big guy with the dreadlocks, right?"

John nodded and the stayed silent once again. John reached for the bag of marshmallows when he heard his name coming from the door. And speak of the devil; Ronon was standing by the door. John stood up and headed towards the door, "What's up?"

"Are we still sparring tomorrow?" The ex runner asked quickly.

"I suppose, why?"

"Can we do it later?"

John thought for a moment, then replied, "Yeah, sure. Something happened?"

"No, just… something came up."

John accepted the elusive answer, then he realized that he was still holding the bag of candy, "Oh, here's something you've never had before, they're called marshmallows."

Ronon eyed the candy, too one and left. John shook his head as he though of what might be keeping Ronon so occupied. Then he turned and walked back to his chair, where he handed the marshmallow bag to Stella.

Stella took the bag, and glanced to the door, watching Ronon leave the area, "He's cute."

John wasn't sure he had heard right, "What?"

Stella took a bite of a marshmallow and replied, "He's cute, sexy, great to look at, eye-candy…"

John finally cut her off, "I get it! But what's wrong with Bates?" Then realizing too late, he quickly added, "Right, sorry, I forgot, is kind of weird now seeing you as single."

Stella gave him a small smile, "Is ok. He simply didn't want me to stay on earth because of him. That my place was here."

"But you still did as he told you."

"I guess I did." Stella fell silent for a minute, and then she eyed John, "Sometimes I think that life would be easier if I still had that crush on you."

That took John by surprise, of all things he would expect from Stella, this was the least of them. "You had a crush on me?"

Stella smiled, "Don't worry Colonel. My crush on you ended the day I tried to crash land your precious puddle jumper." With those words, she gave the bag of candy to John and walked into the hallway, "Good night Colonel."

"Night." John replied as he stared at the ocean. Suddenly halos stared forming around the lights. The buzz was hitting him again, this time it was stronger. It passed as fast as it came, thinking he was just tired John took the opportunity to leave to his room.

Once there, he took a quick shower and landed on his bed in only his boxers. As he fell asleep, John still couldn't understand why he was so dead tired.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When he woke up, there was something really different. He felt it, it was as if his mind went wandering and his body was left behind with just one thought; see Elizabeth.

Standing up was a challenge, but once on his feet John realized that if he managed to hold on to something walking could be done. Forgetting he wasn't wearing clothes, John walked out of his room and he set out on a quest to get to Elizabeth's room as soon as possible.

Her room was on the other side of the sleeping quarter's area. But he needed to see her, even if he couldn't control the fact that he was getting confused. Was it left or right, right or left? John was starting to get annoyed, when he finally found the door.

At least he thought it was the door. Without knocking he went inside and noticed that Elizabeth had moved the furniture. But that didn't stop him; slowly he fell on the bed and snuggled against her. There he fell asleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Stella became a bit aware that there wasn't much space left on her bed. Someone was snuggled against her, and it was definitely a man. Her mind first brought up Bates' face, but she shook the image away when she remembered that he wasn't in the city anymore.

Feeling suddenly scared, Stella opened her eyes widely, and then she turned to look behind her.

She screamed.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kolya sat on the bridge of the ship, looking at the space outside. He just ordered to turn an ancient device that was supposedly making them invisible to the city sensors. By the time they were spotted, his people would be already inside the city.

He knew what he wanted and he was going to get it. But most of all, he wanted to regain the trust of his people. That's why he wasn't going to fail tonight; at least that is what he wanted to think.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

Stella's scream could've been heard on all the corners of the city. She moved so suddenly away from the bed that she fell on the floor all tangled on her bed sheets. Next to her was a barely dressed Colonel Sheppard.

John woke up just as suddenly once he heard the scream. He jumped, turned and fell off the bed too, hitting his face on the nearby desk.

Stella was breathing fast as she hid behind her bed. She quickly took a look at herself making sure that she was wearing clothes. Because this would've been ten times worse if she had decided to sleep in the buff. "Colonel Sheppard! What the hell are you doing here?" –she stared at John then quickly added, "in your underwear."

John sat up and was clutching his nose. He looked around looking a bit disoriented. "I don't know, I thought I was somewhere else."

"I can see that!" Stella said trying to shrink behind her bed.

"I went for a walk and…" John said as he tried to stand up, but Stella cut him off. "And you had to walk around Atlantis giving people the chance to see you in your birthday suit?"

Finally on his feet, John swayed a bit and smirked. "Is not like nobody has seen it before."

Stella made a disgusted expression. "Oh God. I'm not talking about that with you, I'm scarred enough."

"Oh come on!" John said in a half tease half whine way.

"I don't need another traumatic event!"

John stared feeling his nose, and glanced at Stella. "It can't be that bad… is it?"

The Colonel took the waistband of his boxers and pulled, while his face looked down. At that moment, Stella grabbed all the bed sheets she could and covered her face. "NO! Don't do that! Keep your boxers on, please."

There was silence. "Are your boxers where they should be?" Stella asked almost panicking.

"Yes."

"You're not looking at it anymore?"

"No."

"You won't look at it again?"

Stella almost felt the amusement in the Colonel's voice as he answered. "Not now… I think."

Stella looked at John and noticed that his nose was now bleeding. "Oh damn it!" Stella said as she stood up and headed to her bathroom. "My God Colonel, are you high?"

John swayed again. "Maybe… everything seems so fuzzy."

Stella was actually half joking when she said that, so once she walked out of the bathroom, her eyes were wide open. "You ARE high!"

John swayed again, his nose was bleeding badly, and Stella grabbed him by the arm and lead John towards the bed. Then she gave him a towel to clean his face.

Stella turned around and walked towards her desk, where she had left her radio. Once she had it, she shouted to it, "Someone in the infirmary, this is an emergency. Please someone answer."

Stella felt completely relieved when she heard Dr. Beckett's voice answering her call. "Beckett here."

"Oh thank god! Dr. Beckett this is Stella, you better send someone to my room."

"What's going on lass? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, is just that Colonel Sheppard…" Stella turned to face John only to find him lying unconscious in the bed, "he… collapsed in my room."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Fuzzy, weird… no. John Sheppard felt his world was spinning out of control as he tried to open his eyes. The headache was bad, but the pain in his body felt ten times worse. He had never felt like that before. It felt as if the world's biggest hangover had gone terribly wrong.

John managed to open his eyes and the infirmary slowly came into focus. His body was slowly waking up and with it more and more aches. Now a pulsating pain shot across his face, as if he had broken his nose. John lifted his arm to touch his face, there wasn't anything on his nose, but the pain remained.

The movement seemed to alert Carson, because he had appeared out of the sudden by John's side. "Colonel Sheppard, welcome to the land of the living! How are you feeling?"

"With the hangover from hell," John felt groggy and now a bit of nausea was overtaking him. But he managed to keep it at bay, while he tried to look up at Carson. "What happened?"

Carson crossed his arms and stared at the Colonel with a look of half concern and half anger. "You've been out for almost 24 hours."

That seemed to wake John a little bit. "What? Why?"

"Because you forgot that you're not allowed to touch anything on the Salacy planet."

John felt dead tired, but still he frowned. "The Salacy… I didn't touch anything!"

Carson let down his arms and grabbed a chair. "Next time, ask someone for water, and don't pick any clear liquid that comes across."

That seemed to click; he remembered the glass of the so called water. Then his brain clicked and remembered that he wasn't the only one that had it. "Rodney had some of that water too!"

Carson shook his head and signaled to the other side of the room. Rodney was sleeping two beds away. John's gaze turned back to Carson. "What the hell was that, then?"

Carson sighed. "It was their most potent aphrodisiac. And before you ask me why you two didn't react as if you've taken a bottle of Viagra. It was because the liquid was supposed to be mixed with another drink in order to take the proper effect. So the aphrodisiac acted as a subtle drug, which induced you two on a very long sleep."

John digested the information, regretting the damned glass of water. Then something else sparked in his mind. "How did you know what happened?"

Carson paused for a moment, as if trying to choose his next words carefully. "When we found you, I asked Teyla and Ronon if something had happened. Then Teyla told me that the only thing that you had taken was the glass of "water". Then Elizabeth contacted the Salacy people, and they told us how to treat you." Carson waited for John to say something, but when John didn't say anything he added, "What's the last thing you remember?"

John frowned. "I went to bed."

"That's all?"

"Yeah."

"Nothing else?"

"No… what happened?" John felt now curious.

Carson was quiet for a second, then smirked. "You… haven't asked me what happened to your nose."

John touched his face once again. "Carson, what happened?"

Carson stood up and massaged his forehead. "You… got into Miss Roig's bed..." John made a great impression of a deer in the headlights. Carson continued, "In your underwear."

That last comment made John cover his face with his hands as he kept of hearing Carson. "You hit your nose with her desk when she screamed."

John didn't speak, he felt bad, embarrassed and he didn't even remembered what he had done. It was all very wrong.

And a day ago, he thought that he was going to have the best weekend ever. Now things might go downhill, because he had to have a lousy glass of water.

At this moment, John heated his luck with all his heart.

TBC…

-0-0-0-0-

A/N: There was going to be more, but then it would have been a 10 page long chapter. So, I hope that this time I can update in the next couple of days.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: There's a tiny bit of language, and it's only one word. Also, I promise the good stuff is about to come. Let's just hope the bunnies remain on a rampage status, and it's a longer chapter. :P**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter IV**

"What did Rodney do?" John asked trying to forget a bit about his embarrassment.

Carson looked at Rodney's sleeping figure. "He started suggesting to Dr. Zelenka that they should have a threesome with Dr. Katie Brown. Right in front of her, then he collapsed. I got the call just after talking with Miss Roig," Carson stared at John for a moment then said, " I'm going to assume that you were looking for someone else's bed."

John smirked, that was probably true. "I guess… and Stella, where is she?"

"She stayed until you both were stabilized, then she left. I haven't seen her since."

John massaged his forehead. "This is insane."

Carson's face went a bit stern as he said, "Could you at least promise me that if you ever return to that planet, you'll be more careful."

John nodded and remained silent. Then he realized that if he had been unconscious for almost 24 hours, it meant that the party was less than a day away. And there were tons of stuff he still had to do. "Am I going to be released before the party?"

Carson nodded. "Is very probable that you'll be out by morning. But I don't want ether of you drinking anything."

"Why?"

"I don't want to risk it. You've spent the last 24 hours in a drug-induced sleep. I can't allow you two go drinking as planned."

John felt ready to sulk until next month. He had planned the thing from the beginning, in fact it was his idea and he was the one who convinced Elizabeth to allow it. Now, he wasn't able to enjoy it.

A groan broke the impending discussion, Rodney was waking up. Carson was quickly by the scientist's side, checking vitals. "Hello there."

Rodney squinted his eyes to the light as John turned his head to look at his brother in sickness.

Rodney looked around confused. "What happened?"

"We got high on water." John answered before Carson could say anything. Rodney stared at the Doctor. "What? Water?"

Carson followed to explain what happened to them, and when he got to the part where he told the scientist what he had done under the influence. Rodney turned all red and seemed to shrink in his bed. By the time Carson was finished Rodney was covering his face with a pillow.

Then John couldn't control himself any longer and said, "We can't drink at the party!"

The Colonel heard Rodney groan once more. " Carson, it was only water!

"No, Rodney. It wasn't only water. And if I catch any of you two taking so much as a sip, there are plenty of tests you have skipped since arriving at Pegasus."

John shifted on the bed to be able to face Carson, "What about the Heavenly beer?"

"I said no drinks, of any kind."

"It's supposed to make us healthy." Rodney added.

"I know, but we still don't know if it will react to the other substance you two had. I don't want to risk it. Sorry."

For the first time in a very long time both Rodney and John sulked like a pair of little boys. A that exact moment, Elizabeth walked through the door. With amusement she looked at the two grown men sulking on the beds, while Carson looked ready to internally combust. "You told them?" Elizabeth asked.

Carson just nodded in resignation and walked towards his office. "They're all yours for the moment."

Rodney stared at Elizabeth and spat out, "Elizabeth, is not fair!"

Elizabeth's eyebrows arched up, as she replied, "Is not fair? I think that is not fair the scare you two put a lot of people last night."

John and Rodney seemed to give up in resignation to their ruined party. Taking advantage of the moment of silence, Elizabeth moved in closer to John. Her face was serious, but her eyes betrayed a sparkle of amusement. "You were found in someone else's bed… should I be concerned?"

John was not expecting that question. "No! No… I mean… it was a mistake."

Elizabeth bit her lip trying to keep up with her serious face. "You were in your underwear."

"I always sleep in my underwear… well except when… you know. But why should you be concerned? I think I was looking for your room, it was a mistake, I was confused…"

Elizabeth smiled and cut John off. "John, I know. Miss Roig told me what happened… I forgive you." She saw John exhale deeply and then she smirked and decided to add in almost a whisper, "Although, I might have to remind you sometime of how you behaved like a naughty boy."

John frowned for a moment, then replied with a mild smirk on his face. "I don't know if I should like this twisted side of you."

Elizabeth smiled, "Oh shut up, you know you like it."

Rodney seemed a bit annoyed bit the couple's whispered conversation. "Ok you love birds. Fix your problems later, what about the party?"

Elizabeth looked at Rodney. "The party goes as planned."

"But we won't be able to enjoy it!" Rodney said almost whining.

"I'll keep you two company."

John looked at Elizabeth and said, "No offence Elizabeth, but you weren't going to drink anyways."

Then Rodney decided to add, "We've been planning this for more than a month, is not fair!"

Elizabeth shook her head, "Rodney, that's enough."

Rodney crossed his arm. "Ok, can I get some food then? I'm starving."

Elizabeth gave him a smile. "I'll see what I can do." Then she walked out of the infirmary.

John and Rodney found themselves alone; Rodney looked at John and said, "This sucks!"

-0-0-0-0-0-

They had been released from the infirmary by morning. John was more than glad to be out of there, and the first thing he wanted to do was to say an apology. He made his way towards Stella's office, but found it empty. The new guy that was brought to help her arrived at the office and told John that Stella had gone to fix something at the laundry room.

John headed towards the laundry room; he really felt the need to talk to her. But when John got to the laundry room, the soldier appointed there told him that she just left.

Either he was having bad luck or she was evading him.

But he had things to do, so John decided to give it a try later and get to work. He had lost a full day, on account of the damned water. Even if he wasn't going to be allowed to drink, John had to do what he promised and allow everyone else to enjoy the night.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Rodney McKay was in a very bad mood. People in the lab had started to evade him, to prevent any verbal smack down. On top of that Zelenka had paid him a visit to ask if his three-way offer was still on. Of course Zelenka was half laughing when he asked, and it almost resulted in injury for the Czech doctor.

So, when John called him on the radio to remind him of his party duties, the scientist lost it. "Why should I do it? Is not like I can enjoy it."

"Rodney you're not the only one in this city. Besides I've been working since I got out of the infirmary, and we're on the same situation. So, get your ass to the mess hall and do what you promised."

John shut down his radio and Rodney cursed.

Maybe he should try to enjoy the night; with that thought Rodney grabbed his computer and walked out of the door. Once on the mess hall he saw how half the place was ready, while the other half still had some tables. So people could come by during the day and eat.

He tried not to think of food and went for the area he needed to work. Where he could interface a computer to only play the hall's speakers. That way they just needed a computer filled with music connected to the speakers and they should have non-stop music during the night.

The panel where the cables were was on the far end of the room, at floor level. Rodney kneeled on the floor, removed the wall panel and looked at the connections. The panel almost looked like an air conditioning conduct, but it was slightly bigger. All the cables were on the left side of the conduct. There were the normal bright pale blue cables from Atlantis. Then there were a bunch of other cables in all colors and without much identification. It didn't said either what they were for, Rodney cursed at the idiot who made it.

When he started looking through the mess, his head was almost inside the wall as he tried to look for the speaker controls. Then he bumped his head when he heard Cadman's voice. "Rodney! What are you up to?"

Rodney looked up and replied annoyed, "What does it look like?"

Cadman had taken a cup of yogurt and said while she opened it. "That you have a suicidal wish."

Rodney frowned. "Ha, ha… you're so funny Cadman."

"No, really what are you doing?" Cadman asked as she had another spoonful of yogurt.

Rodney decided that he didn't want to feel in worse mood, so he replied, "I'm trying to connect the hall's speakers to a local computer, so you can make a fool of yourself while dancing dead drunk."

Cadman laughed… Rodney didn't know what to say next so he decided to keep working on the panel. Half way, Cadman asked, "Are you sure you're not ruining someone else's work?"

"I really doubt that the person who made this mess, has anything important to do in this city."

At that precise moment, Rodney heard someone say, "Dr. McKay, what are you doing?"

Rodney looked up and saw the laundry girl staring at him. The laundry girl, Rodney didn't understand what could she want. "Something really important, that it will take you a month to understand," –Rodney looked at Cadman and continued; "now please, can you two let me do my job?"

Rodney turned to face the panel, and saw the laundry girl walk towards him. He looked at her in annoyance. "What? I doubt any of this disrupts any of the laundry room machines."

Stella crossed her arms. "I know it doesn't. But you just killed my feed over all the east pier."

Rodney sat up and stared at Stella, "Oh! So you were the moron who made a major mess inside this panel."

The comment had sparkle Stella's anger, which she managed to keep in control. "This moron, as you just insulted me, made a clear note of what she did." Stella walked towards the panel door laid and showed Rodney the inside side of it. It had a paper sticking to it, with a diagram saying what everything was for and a note that read, 'Before touching this please contact Stella Roig.' Stella placed the panel door on the floor and said, "Who's the moron now?"

Rodney gave Stella an angry glare, just as Cadman stood up. The lieutenant had a very amused expression. "Well, Rodney I now leave you to work." Now she glanced at Stella and added, "give him hell."

Stella smiled, while Rodney said, "Oh that's very mature."

"See you later, Rodney!" Cadman said as she walked out the door.

Rodney now looked at Stella and said in a sarcastic tone, "Are you two best friends now?"

"Actually, I've never even spoken to her before."

Rodney glared at Stella's smirking face and snapped. "Ok, get in there and fix your stuff."

Rodney stood up while Stella shook her head. She lay on the floor and almost got inside the wall. Stella wasn't a tiny girl, but she managed to get inside to work better on the cables. Besides, ever since she came to Atlantis, she had become fitter. As every now and then she tried to go to the gym while some of the female Marines where there.

Rodney had taken his laptop and started working on it getting the music program ready for testing. When he heard Stella's voice. "What were you trying to do anyways?"

Rodney rolled his eyes and decided answer the question, when he finished he heard Stella's voice again. "Well, I'm finish, you might as well take the advantage that I'm here and tell me what to do."

Rodney knew it was a good idea; there was no way in hell that he would be able to work comfortably inside that conduct. So he walked towards the panel and sat down besides Stella. He told her what to do first and then remain silent. After a minute he asked, "Why do you need a feed of the east pier? You just do the laundry."

Then he heard Stella answer from inside the wall, "Actually, I also document everything about the city."

"Document?"

"I constantly make documentaries about everything that happens in the city for the government. It is my main job here."

Rodney frowned. "So, you're what?"

"The filmmaker that will be famous a hundred years after my death. When the US government decides to make Atlantis public."

Something seemed to spark Rodney's memories. "Of course, you gave me a copy of the run I made with Sheppard last year." Rodney stayed deep in thought then said, "So, that means that you caught on tape what happened here with the fruits."

"Yep, and believe me. It not as fascinating as it sounds."

Rodney frowned. "So you watched all that happened? Alone?"

Rodney saw Stella's legs moving and heard her say, "Yes and no. I had to watch them as part of my work. But I didn't watch them alone. Sgt. Bates helped me through."

"So… you watched people getting freaky all over the city… with just Sgt. Bates."

"Well, it's better than alone. Besides it was better that way, so people talked less about considering me a perv for watching those tapes alone."

Rodney's face looked deep in thought. "Do you still have them?"

The moment Rodney asked his question; Stella poked her head out of the conduct and stared at the scientist. "You want to see them? As you said; people getting freaky all over the city… is not porn, Doctor…" Stella smirked and returned to work on the panel. Then she said, "I think I know who the perv is now…"

Rodney eyes flew wide open, his face in shock. "NO! I just want to see how much of an ass I made of myself."

Rodney heard Stella trying not to laugh. "Oh please… your argument is as fake as a Latin Soap opera."

Taking the opportunity to change the subject Rodney quickly said, "What's wrong with Latin Soap operas? I love them."

Stella's head poked out once again, confusion was smeared on her face. "Do you even understand them?"

"No, but the women are hot! Also, I make up their dialogue in my head, sometimes it gets pretty good."

Stella shook her head and returned to work on the cables. "You are one weird man, McKay."

That seemed to snap Rodney out of his thought and back into job mode. "Yeah, sure. Are you done?"

Stella told him that she was done and ready for the next task; Rodney nodded and gave her some more instructions. They worked in silence for a while. Then Stella called Rodney to ask him something about the cables. He told her what to do and walked towards the kitchen and grabbed a snack. When he returned to Stella, he sat besides her.

When she couldn't explain properly why still it wasn't working, he kneeled besides her and poked his head inside the conduct. He pointed, and snarked as Stella worked on the wrong one. Then when she got what Rodney wanted she said with a smile, "it's done! Why don't you try it now?"

Rodney tried to move, but all he could do was say, "Oh-oh."

"What?" Stella asked in concern.

"I'm stuck."

"You're what?"

Rodney glared at Stella ready to kill her with his gaze. She got it, and then tried to move out, she couldn't either. "Oh shit!"

"You can say that again." Rodney replied.

Then Stella looked around the conduct and back at Rodney. "This sucks!"

TBC….


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So sorry for taking so long, my bunnies are behaving weird. So I have to work when they feel like it. But here's another chapter, and I hope to have another one soon. Where the fun/action part really begins.

Enjoy!

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Chapter V

John was sure he was pretty much done for the day. He had made sure the mess hall had all the drinks and food needed for the night. Then he took a small team of off duty officers to make sure everything was in place. Elizabeth told him to make a list of the people who were supposed to be working during the hours of the party, so none of them came wondering while there was work to be done.

He was angry at Rodney for abandoning his chores, now he was heading to the mess hall to make sure the scientist did what he was supposed to do. Half way there he met up with Ronon, they had scheduled some gym time on the afternoon. So Ronon decided to join him earlier, it was either Teyla was busy or he was really bored.

Also, the fact that John was heading to the mess hall, was good in Ronon's point of view.

But once he walked in the mess hall, John was met by a sight he might have trouble to forget. On the far wall of the mess hall, there were two bodies on the floor. One looked like Rodney without half a torso; also John was able to hear the scientist's voice. Te other was just a pair of legs, and by the looks of it; it was a woman.

Confused about the scene they were witnessing Ronon glanced at John. The Colonel felt sorry for the poor woman that was stuck with McKay inside a conduct. So, to make everyone's trauma as small as possible he walked towards the bodies. John signaled Ronon to grab McKay, while he took the woman's legs.

The pair inside the conduct was startled by John and Ronon's action. But then the next moment, both McKay and Stella were pulled out of the conduct. Rodney was quickly helped by Ronon to stand up. While John just stared at Stella while holding her legs.

She gave him a weird look. "Uhm, Colonel, that was very nice of you, but you can let go of me now."

"Where have you been?"

"Working."

"I've been looking for you."

Stella gave John a sarcastic smile. "Well, you know I'm a busy woman. Now can I please stand up?"

It seemed that John hadn't realized that he was still holding Stella's legs. He quickly let go of her and helped her up. Rodney now took his computer and tested the speakers with some instrumental music John have never heard before. John turned to Stella. "Bring your hard drive; I don't want to be stuck with Rodney's music taste all night."

"Okay." Stella replied with a smirk.

Hearing John's comment, Rodney closed his laptop. "There, I'm done. Enjoy the party."

As Rodney started walking towards the mess hall door, Ronon turned to John. "I'm heading to the gym."

John nodded. "I'll be there in ten minutes." Then he decided it was time to ask for an apology, but when John turned to face Stella, she was gone. He quickly walked out of the mess hall and found Stella almost reaching the transport doors. "Stella, wait!"

Stella walked faster than usual, but stopped when she heard her name. John sprinted his way towards her. "I've been looking for you all morning. Where the hell have you been?"

"Working." Stella asked trying to relax her face.

"So you can disappear and appear at will? I've been to your office and to the laundry room."

Stella scoffed. "I spent almost a year trying to stay out of your way. Is not difficult for me to go from place to place without being noticed."

"So, you're evading me," it was more a statement than a question.

Stella's eyes opened wide for a moment, then she looked like she was doing some quick thinking. "You could say that," Then Stella turned around and started walking towards the transport.

John went after her and said, "I'm sorry about what happened. I don't even know what really happened, but…"

Stella decided to cut him off. "I'll spare you the embarrassment Colonel. But you must understand if I keep being out of your way for a while."

"Why?"

Stella stepped into the transport, John stayed behind. "It was freaky, weird and not to mention disturbing. And some really stupid people are already talking… so, I don't want any trouble," Stella touched the transport screen. "Especially with Dr. Weir, see you later Colonel."

John only shook his head, maybe it was better to forget about the incident and move on. With that thought, he walked towards the gym, when he walked in there he was met by another intriguing scene. Ronon had Teyla pinned to the floor, and did he see a suggestive look on Teyla's face… or did John imagine it. He really didn't know. But once he was on the room, Ronon let go of Teyla so fast that it looked like he had seen a ghost. Both tried to act cool and natural, only to fail miserably.

"She was here, so I decided to start with her until you arrived," Ronon said quickly.

John nodded slightly, trying to hide the smirk on his face. "Sure."

Teyla stood up and grabbed her things. "I won't bother you any longer."

"You know you don't bother me, Teyla." John said with a smile. To which she seemed out of words to reply, until she said, "I am meeting Halling right now, so I will see you later in the mess hall."

"Of course." John replied with the smirk still on his face.

Once Teyla was out of ear shot, John turned to Ronon who handled the Colonel a pair of sticks. "Is there something you want to tell me?" John asked with a smirk.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Ronon glared at John, and then his mouth formed a smirk. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Seeing Ronon's face, John regretted his comments, because he knew that he was about to suffer one hell of a beating.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Multiple beatings and a shower later John Sheppard was getting ready for the night. Someone knocked at the door; John walked to it and opened it. It was Elizabeth. "I'm going to the mess hall now. Caldwell is around and I don't want to give him a reason to be suspicious."

John knew that his night as already ruined in account to the damned water. Now he had to spend the night ten feet away from Elizabeth. She seemed to sense his train of thought because she added, "I'll make it up to you"

John smirked; comments like that often resulted in really unforgettable moments. "Don't worry, go ahead and show your single female leader face."

Elizabeth returned the smirk and walked away. John closed the door and headed to the bathroom. He decided to keep it simple wearing a black shirt with jeans. But he did make sure his hair was in place.

By the time he walked in the mess hall the place was still a bit empty. Elizabeth was in a corner speaking with Caldwell; Ronon carried a tray of food and sat down besides Teyla. Now that he thought of it, those two were spending too much time together. And after Ronon's elusive answer at the gym, John was almost sure there was something going on. He had to smile, even now with the open communications with Earth; the citizens of Atlantis were getting more and more comfortable, living in the city and even considering looking for a partner. He did it way before Atlantis was able to communicate with Earth.

The sad part was that instead of improving their situation, it made it difficult, because the bosses shouldn't be dating. Of course only the high staff knew about it, but John was sure that most of the personnel from the original group, knew about it and no one had said anything. That probably meant that Kavanagh might know, but if he hadn't said anything yet, well they were still safe. Only that they had to keep hiding from Caldwell every time he arrived. John was tired of the whole thing, but she was worth the trouble.

Rodney arrived with Zelenka and shortly after them, Carson and Cadman walked in. In a blink of an eye, the mess hall was completely full. Music started playing, which told John that Stella had arrived as well.

John made his way towards Rodney, who was looking a bit as he wanted to run away from the place. In short… he was still pouting.

"Dr. Zelenka… I see that your wonderful drink made it to the party," John said with a smirk.

Zelenka gave him a mischievous look. "Everything is being stored on the storage closet of Rodney's lab. If anyone wants something nice to drink, they have to pass by there. You know… someone like the Colonel will probably believe that… the scientist group doesn't drink."

John slapped Rodney gently on the shoulder. "Let's wait until Colonel Doom leaves, we'll do a guys night. Complete with snacks and sports."

Rodney stared at John. "Is that a promise?"

"Enjoy the night gentleman…" John said as he walked away. He moved around the room once more, evading any contact with the Colonel. It was not a wise act, but he wasn't in the mood for chatting with the humorless Colonel.

The music had been mostly pretty good, and it was varied. At one moment they would be listening to an American classic, then the next it will be Spanish rock and then the next will be a soft romantic song. The population of the city was as varied as the music selection, so no one was complaining.

John looked over the room and spotted Stella sitting on the back. The computer close to her as she made sure the music was non stop. At the same time, she was doing shot rounds with the guys that helped her on the laundry room and at her office. John was glad she seemed like she was having a good time.

But of course no all good things last, because John noticed Kavanagh eyeing Stella with a passion. And it wasn't the good one. John decided to move once he saw the cranky scientist approaching Stella's table.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Commander Kolya stood besides the bridge window. His thoughts were lost in his plans for the day. In a couple of hours, Atlantis will be under Genii rule, Dr. Weir and Sheppard behind bars and his reputation cleaned.

A soldier approached him. "Commander…"

But Kolya cut him off. "How much longer?"

"An hour, at the most. Our equipment is already scanning their sensors and rendering them useless against us."

"Good. Prepare the first squadron, I'll be among the first to walk in the city. I want the best soldiers with me."

"Yes, sir."

Kolya smirked at the his reflection on the glass. The soldier was turning to walk away, but Kolya stopped him. "Aiffel, make sure that when we land you know the location of Major Sheppard."

The soldier nodded and walked away. Kolya turned to the widow once more… their plan was flawless.

TBC…


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Alo people! So, I've had this chapter for quite a while but hadn't done anything about it because I felt the story needed something else. After much thought and watching the movie that originally inspired me to write this fic, I have found what I was missing and the bunnies are willing. Let see how long it lasts… **

**Ok, won't bore you anymore… hope you like it and in the next chapter all the good stuff starts… ohhh the whumpage, the torture, the violence, the sarcasm all in good faith. **

**Enjoy! **

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Chapter VI

Sensing trouble with Kavanagh, John moved around the hall, but before he got to his final destination, Elizabeth stepped in front of him, that took him entirely by surprise... "Dr. Weir!" John said in an innocent tone.

She stood in front of him, he knew that under that sweet and innocent exterior laid one very angry woman. He proved it once she gave him the same innocent smile as she replied, "Colonel Sheppard, may I speak with you?"

"Sure."

They started to slowly walk around the room, John had the impulse to grab her hands, but Caldwell was around. The no sex for two weeks because of Caldwell was getting old. John was getting tired of having to pretend that he and Elizabeth weren't a couple every time the Colonel was around. They never had any public displays of affection, with the exception of the fruit incident. But that had been cataloged on a "Something alien made us do it" file.

Elizabeth brought him back to the current problem as she said, "Why have you been ignoring me?"

John just gave her a wide eyed look. "I have not!"

Elizabeth didn't say a word, she just stared at Sheppard. She knew him so well; he knew she was able to read him from a mile away. John relaxed then tried to give her his best puppy eye look. "You've been all night with the Colonel…"

"And if you keep evading him all night, he'll know something is wrong."

John frowned. "Don't you think that the fact that you're talking to me now will make him wonder? I haven't spoken to him, then you come to me and then I'll speak… is going to be weird. "

Elizabeth shook her head. "I told him you had cramps, I'm just checking in on you."

John just stared at her; he couldn't believe how the beautiful woman in front of her could be so mean when she wanted to. Then Elizabeth added, "At least have the curtesies of saying hello." With those words, Elizabeth turned around and walked away.

John sighed; it wasn't that he hated Caldwell. But lately the Colonel had given him some strange looks. John took another look at the mess hall. Stella was walking out of the mess hall. Mentally shrugging, John moved into the beverages table. He needed one, even without the much desired alcohol. As he approached the table he grabbed a glass of soda, pathetic, but still.

"Good evening Colonel Sheppard, how are you feeling?" a voice asked behind John.

"Fine," John replied heartlessly.

"So, no more cramps?"

With that question John finally turned around to confirm the voice behind him; Colonel Caldwell. "Sir... Oh… yeah… they calmed down a while ago." John said while he patted his belly.

Caldwell moved in closer to John, his face was serious. "Is there something going on between you and Dr. Weir?"

John did a double take, Caldwell just asked the question, Thinking to himself how screwed he was John remained calm and looked at the Colonel. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean Colonel." Caldwell remained calm and serious. John eyed the Colonel suspiciously, and then replied. "We're co-workers, we're friends, and we interact like normal people. Is there something wrong with that?"

Caldwell glanced at the floor then looked back at John. "Colonel Sheppard… I think you should focus your energy on the security of this mission, not on a fling on another galaxy."

With those words Caldwell turned around and walked to the other side of the room. On the other side John knew he was busted, one way or the other. Even if Caldwell remained in the dark about the reality of his relationship with Elizabeth, he would be snooping around. And if he started looking, he was bound to find something. Officially, John knew his night was ruined. He saw Elizabeth looking his way, but he didn't want to ruin her night as well.

He needed a drink… to hell with Carson's orders.

Avoiding the resulting stares and glares from his friends and colleagues, Colonel Sheppard walked out of the mess hall. His destination; Rodney's lab.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Stella headed to her office, once more Kavanagh had managed to make her feel like crap. She was fine ignoring the man until he mentioned Bates, but instead on resorting to good old trusted instant revenge methods. Stella had remained calmed and walked out before she killed the arrogant scientist.

As she walked into her office, something caught her eye; all her monitors showing the east pier were off. She remembered then, that after fixing what Dr. McKay had messed up she forgot to work on her office too.

Stella turned on the cameras and restarted the monitors, and when she looked at them again she gasped. A large white ship had landed on the pier and now people were pouring out and into the city.

Stella cursed.

She searched for her radio, she hadn't taken it to the party so it should be somewhere in her office. Once she found it, Stella almost shouted to it. "Dr. Weir this is Stella Roig please come in! Dr. Weir…. Do you copy?"

Stella waited for an answer, but not for long. "Colonel Sheppard, please respond. This is an emergency!"

Again, nothing.

Stella stared at the monitors once again, then without second thought she ran out of her office. The hallways were empty, but she only needed to take the nearest transport. Which was just around the corner, but as she ran past the corner Stella bumped into a very tall man.

She looked up and felt that the floor beneath her disappeared. She had seen that face, right after arriving back to the city after the storm passed. Stella started to walk backwards, but the man grabbed her by the arm. She struggled but then something pinched her on her neck and then it was lights out.

-0-0-0-0-0-

After quickly dealing with the civilian, Kolya was more than happy when the gate room security was taken off guard. The Olesian equipment was doing its job, as no one had suspected a thing until it was too late.

Commander Kolya walked down the main stairs like he did some time ago and headed towards the transport. Then he turned on his radio. "Aiffel, can you give me Sheppard's location?"

"He should be with the rest of the population, sir," the answer was quick and sharp.

"Good, I'm on my way." Kolya felt like smiling, everything was going according to plan. After walking down the hallways, Kolya stepped into the transport. On the other side, his men didn't found much resistance.

The Atlantis people weren't ready for it, and he felt better when he arrived at the door leading him towards Sheppard and Weir.

-0-0-0-0-

Elizabeth saw John walk out of the mess hall almost right after talking with Caldwell. She knew him well enough to know that the conversation didn't go well. Elizabeth evaded the older Colonel for a bit and then made a bee line towards where Rodney, Carson and Zelenka were sitting.

Elizabeth sat down besides Rodney, Ronon and Teyla quickly arrived at the table. "What just happened?" Rodney asked as he looked at Elizabeth.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that it won't be good." Elizabeth's voice was calm, but it was masked with sadness.

Carson glanced at Elizabeth. "Are you sure that is what happened? That he finally found out?"

"I don't know, but I can't go running after him, because it would be really obvious that there's something going on. But still… I don't want him to go sulking all night because of it."

Zelenka opened his eyes wide and raised a hand. "Uhh... we told him where the drinks were."

Elizabeth passed a hand through her hair then she stood up. "I guess I have to go to him after all."

But Ronon suddenly stood up. "Stay. I will get him."

"Thanks." Elizabeth said to Ronon as she gave him a grateful smile. When Ronon walked away, she looked at the rest of the people on the table. "Ok, the show must go on."

Suddenly Elizabeth's head began to run with thoughts. She wished that in the end they won't have to walk away from each other. After all they only agreed on being together, because they were cut off from earth and they believed that it was going to be like that much, much longer. They were about to celebrate their first anniversary and now, they might have to say good bye.

It wasn't fair.

Elizabeth glanced at Caldwell; the Colonel was having a conversation with an engineer from the Daedalus. There must be something… Elizabeth thought, something that would keep the Colonel quiet if he ever found out for real. There must be something so big that he would have no choice but to allow them to stay together.

But… what? Caldwell wasn't a goody-goody man, he must have skeletons on his closet and for once, Elizabeth was willing to find them out.

All in the name of love.

In the name of love… it was so cliché, but it was real and necessary.

Suddenly there was silence in the room. It was enough to pull her out of her thoughts. Elizabeth frowned and turned around; Commander Kolya was standing on the mess hall door.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Whoa, this was a long one but I'm beginning to enjoy it very much. Don't know where everything is coming from, thinking how this whole fanfic series started with basically plain crack! Now is almost serious… almost anyways. If all goes well, I'll have the next chapter in the next couple of days.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter VII:

John was angry, angry at the whole situation. It was unfair, to finally find someone who is strong enough to stand him and understand him. He didn't have to keep secrets about his job and that was a plus. But then she had to be his boss. Yes sometimes it was complicated, but they had managed to make it work, and he wanted to keep on doing it.

John walked into the transport, once on the other side he walked out to the hall way and turned left. He started hearing footsteps; someone was running. John frowned and tried to follow the footsteps that were now sprinting. Why he followed it, he had no idea, curiosity, maybe the urge to forget his current problems."

The Colonel went around the hallways and the footsteps were leading him back into the transport. But as he turned on a corner he had to stop so suddenly he almost lost his balance. Then just as quick John backed away.

Commander Acastus Kolya was in the city… how?

The person he was following was Stella who was now with Kolya's people. That presented a problem, because if Kolya was this far undetected, it meant that he must have more people captive.

Having a large group down at the mess hall, that was going to be a problem. And he should keep radio silence, just in case they were being monitored. The night was going from mildly annoying to bad then jumped into horrible in just a couple of minutes.

Keeping himself out of sight, John made a decision and ran towards the armory.

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Dr. Weir is so nice to see you again." Kolya said with a particular sneer on his face. Then he turned to Rodney. "You too Dr. McKay."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rodney said before he could control himself. Kolya looked at the scientist in plain amusement. "Well Doctor, we got along so well the last time we saw each other, that I wanted to see you all again." Kolya scanned the room and his expression went from confident to angry in seconds. "Where is Colonel Sheppard?"

Elizabeth glanced at Rodney, but remained silent. Kolya moved in closer. "I asked a question Dr. Weir."

Elizabeth remained steady and silent; Kolya then stood right in front of her, took out his gun and pointed it at her face. "I'm not going to ask again."

Rodney was now staring at her, Elizabeth then focused on the man in front of her. "I don't know where he is."

There was a long silence where everyone seemed to assimilate what was going on. The off duty soldiers in the room exchanged glances, trying to come up with a good solution. But Kolya's men were too many and almost no one in the room was heavily armed.

Kolya lowered the gun. "Then before he graces us with his presence, you and I are going to have a little chat."

Kolya then looked at a tall, blonde guard behind him. "Cali, divide them into groups. Then send a team to search the common areas. I want every citizen to be unarmed and neutralized. Especially Colonel Sheppard, once you find him bring him to me."

"Yes, sir." Cali responded quickly.

Kolya then turned to Elizabeth. "Shall we?"

Suddenly Caldwell tried to get closer but failed when a Genii guard stood in his way with a big weapon. Instead the Colonel looked at Kolya. "What the hell do you want?"

Kolya looked at Caldwell in amusement. "You must be new," Kolya smiled, as he seemed to consider the question. "Same as always; power, control, beautiful women." As he said the last words he tightens his grip on Elizabeth.

Caldwell frowned. "If you harm her, you won't get anything."

"Sir, I think this woman is already claimed. Let him do the threats."

Elizabeth threw Caldwell a grateful glance. He had tried to help her, even with all the other stuff that was going on. She had a mixed swirl of emotions going on inside of her. For one, she was going to be alone with Kolya again, that was never a pleasant thought. Then Kolya's comment to Caldwell about her, that she was claimed. Life had an unpleasant way to show you the bad times; they were always one on top of the other.

Before she walked out, Caldwell shot her a look, which Elizabeth couldn't figure out. Kolya started dragging her away and the last thing Elizabeth saw was the worried glances of Rodney and Teyla as she walked out of the mess hall.

-0-0-0-0-0-

For the first time since he moved to Atlantis, Ronon felt the need to say something to Colonel Sheppard. The whole situation with Colonel Caldwell was stupid, immature at best. Ronon understood the problems a relationship like the one Sheppard and Dr. Weir had, could bring to the place.

If he had been in the city, when they had started it Ronon was almost sure he would have been against it. Leadership cannot be controlled by emotions, especially if the two leaders were a couple.

But since he walked into the city, Ronon had never seen them showing their affection for each other publicly. Or even have their relationship interfere on important matters.

Now he felt the need to intervene on something that had transformed into a childish situation.

Ronon stepped into the transport, once on the other side Ronon turned left towards McKay's lab. He heard footsteps, more than two, it almost felt like a group marching, but someone was definitely running. Ronon followed them, and then he heard a voice, a woman gasping.

Ronon followed the sound; it didn't feel good in his instincts. On the next corner he found a group of people, an unconscious young woman was being carried by a soldier in a strange uniform. There were at least 30 soldiers and in front the leader, who said, "Aiffel, can you give me Sheppard's location?"

Ronon didn't wait for the answer; he was quickly on the move. These people were now headed towards the mess hall. That meant that they should have more areas of Atlantis under their control.

They didn't know where Sheppard was, so he needed to find the Colonel in order to organize those who weren't captive yet. If they had managed to get so far without anyone noticing, it was a sure bet that the radios were compromised. There was no point in returning back to the hall; he would only manage to get caught.

Ronon saw the group split when they reached the transport. Attacking the leader now was useless, because he didn't know just how many of them where already in Atlantis. So Ronon decided to follow the small group heading towards the control room.

Ronon took another way to get there; it was quicker and less known. If the control room was still under Earth's control, he'll be able to warn them about the intruders. But as he arrived, the outcome was otherwise; the intruders had control of the gate. All the security guards and technicians were gathered on a corner of the upper level. The young woman joined them shortly, after the guard placed her with the others.

They were all unconscious, or so Ronon hoped. Because if they were dead, the situation was worst that he originally thought. But then the guard started kicking the legs of most of the captives. They started to wake up, and Ronon breathed in relief.

He needed to do something, but before he could think of something, he heard someone approaching him.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The walk with Kolya was made in silence; Elizabeth already knew how the man worked. He liked to be stealthy, rude and calculated. Although he never succeeded in both the opportunities he had to take something out of the expedition. Kolya had always managed to do some real damage.

In some way Elizabeth hoped that this time it would be the same, minus the damage part. She knew what he was capable of, and if someone tried any sort of rescue at this point it would be scary. By experience, she was aware that he had no problem in gabling with her life.

By the time Elizabeth realized where they were going, she felt a bit aghast. The gate room was in their control. Instead of the usual soldiers, Genii guards were by the gate. The oversized guns looked more menacing than their owners.

But still… they were armed men, always a dangerous thing.

As they walked up the stairs and he led her to her office, there was a commotion on the far left side of the second level. A Genii guard was looking very annoyed, the Atlantis soldiers were looking amused and someone was laying their head on a console.

It was enough for Kolya to take notice. "Jole! What is going on?"

Jole turned around, so he covered the person that was lying on the console. Elizabeth couldn't identify the person, but the clothes revealed that it was one of hers. The guard looked even more mortified when Kolya addressed him, but he replied, "Nothing sir, everything is under control."

A loud muffled laugh came up from behind him; Jole's face went ten shades of red.

Kolya eyed the soldier carefully. "I want that console up and running as soon as possible."

The answer was a confident face, with a nervous voice. "Yes, sir."

The laugh was fainter this time, but still there. Kolya grabbed Elizabeth by the arm and led her towards her office. Once inside, he closed the door. "Your people are very efficient; someone blocked the console that shows where people are in the city. That will be resolved shortly."

Kolya motioned her to sit down on one of the chairs in front of the desk; he rested against the desk facing Elizabeth. "How are things?"

Elizabeth felt like stabbing the man, the man just sat there and wanted to talk like old friends. She managed to retain a calmed face. "They were fine Commander, until you showed up."

"Are you sure? You weren't looking so good when I walked in." There was amusement in his voice. Elizabeth ignored the hint. "Why are you here?"

"Straight to business." Kolya said with a smile.

"With you is always is always business."

"Where is Sheppard?"

"I told you, I don't know."

Kolya crossed his arms and let out a sigh. "Then I want to talk to your superiors."

Elizabeth stared at Kolya. "My superiors are very far away."

"I know, but I also know that you're able to communicate with them."

"No," Elizabeth knew the answer might cost her a lot, and she feared it once Kolya stood up. "Dr. Weir, it will help greatly if you cooperate."

Elizabeth remained silent; Kolya took a step towards her. "Then tell me where Colonel Sheppard is."

"I'm not going to say it again, I don't know."

"Then he better show up soon."

There was a commotion outside, Kolya turned around and Elizabeth saw that someone was hitting the guard called Jole. Elizabeth smirked, "On the other hand… I should tell you where to look for him. Every time your plans have failed, is because of him. Hopefully this time it will be the same."

Elizabeth never saw it coming; the slap on her face left her cheek stinging. She could feel each finger almost etched on her face. But it gave her satisfaction to see Kolya's face.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Arriving near the armory, John decided not to go right in. If Kolya's men were all over the city, this would be a place he would set up guard very quickly. John had no life signs detector with him, so there was no way to know or sure if there were hostiles on the room. John peeked around a corner and looked at the armory doors. The corridor was empty, not a soul around.

John moved in carefully, he didn't want to walk into an ambush. But as he moved closer he found no one. He opened the door and walked inside, he was lucky, it was empty. John quickly grabbed a life signs detector, ammunition, a P90 and a small wraith stun gun.

He turned the detector on and saw two figures heading his way. Either Kolya had found him, or just his guards were making rounds. John needed to think quickly, he hid inside the room; the Colonel took another look at his LS detector and waited.

When the guards arrived, they were startled to find the doors open. Quickly they started searching the room. John had made sure that his hiding place was one they would search quickly. When the first guard looked behind a big box, there he found Colonel Sheppard sitting on the floor with a stun gun in hand.

The next thing that happened was two quick shots, and the guards were on the floor. Sheppard stood up and looked around, to make sure this would not be discovered so quickly. John hid the unconscious guards on a nearby storage closet and then headed towards the gate room.

He checked his detector, no one was near him, John thought for a moment to move towards the mess hall, but there were a lot of people there. And most likely there were many guards as well. Hidden shortcuts and corridors were always the best option, as he moved in closer he could see the Genii guards moving around. He searched for the LS detector, but as he turned on a corner, a gun was placed on his head.

Taking a quick look he realized that it was Ronon.

Both soldiers sighted in relief at the sight of each other, and then Ronon have him a small smirk. "I almost blew your head off."

"Well don't try anytime soon." John said as he shook his head.

Ronon put his gun away and walked towards the gate room. "Who are these people?"

"They're Genii, I can bet they're with Kolya," Sensing Ronon's questioning gaze he added, "bad guy, long story."

"We need reinforcements."

John nodded. "We need to get to the Daedalus. I don't know why they haven't done anything but Kolya can't have that much man power to overrun the ship as well. We need to get in there before someone finds us."

"What do you want to do?" Ronon asked as he took another glance to the gate room.

"Let's go to the ship, and then we'll deal with the bad guys. Also, we need…" John didn't finish his sentence, he was looking at the gate room and he just spotted Kolya on Elizabeth's office and he had her. That set off a fire inside of him, Ronon knew him well, as the Runner said, "Let it be, we need to get more people."

"He'll hurt her… I know he will."

"Sheppard, you need to be sharp. He wants you…"

But John never allowed Ronon to finish his sentence. "Precisely."

There was a commotion to Ronon's left, on the second level where the captive soldiers were. He then turned to the Colonel. "Sheppard…"

Seeing Sheppard's angered face, Ronon took another glance towards Dr. Weir's office, and at that moment Kolya slapped the Doctor on the face. When Ronon turned to look at John, he wasn't there, he was moving into the open.

John couldn't fight the anger within him, and he made a choice he might regret later. He saw Ronon following him, he turned and said, "Ronon, get the others, that's an order."

"Sheppard!"

"I gave you an order. DO IT!" Then John Sheppard walked into the gate room.

TBC…


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: after more than a year of silence, I have no excuse. But my imagination seemed to have disappeared. It's even sadder when I looked back into this fic and the series it belongs and it came to a point where I couldn't remember I had written it. Is very sad… really.**

**Anyways, for some reason I feel like writing tonight and there's half of another chapter in the way. I hope this writing phase will last longer than before.**

**Chapter VII**

Everything had been going well; Major Marcus Lorne was just about to finish his shift and just wanted to get ready to go to the party. Maybe have a few beers, a few laughs and then go to sleep. He had just surveyed the gate room, when he had moved to talk with Sgt. Chuck Robinson, the gate technician. But as he walked in closer to the console, he barely felt a sting on his neck. Before he realized what just happened the room spun wildly and he fell to the floor.

When Lorne woke up, it was because someone had just kicked him on the legs. He had hoped in some way that he just had a nightmare. But as he opened his eyes, Lorne cursed, Genii soldiers filled the gate room.

He cursed again.

Before being drugged the gateroom had just the essential crew, there were just a handful of teams off world as most of the people were on the city. But at the moment as Lorne took a careful look around. There were at least ten more people around him. All of them were working on the gateroom at the moment of takeover. Now someone else was being added to the group, a young woman Lorne recognized as the girl who worked in the laundry room. A massive headache stated to annoy Lorne; life in the Pegasus galaxy certainly was special.

The group had been gathered on the far left corner of the second level of the control room. Lorne received another kick to his legs, as their guard passed by. He finally decided to move and look up. A tall Genii guard was the one offering the kicks. His hair was brown and his eyes were sparkling blue, the man continued kicking the captives until everyone was awakened; except for the young girl.

The Genii guard moved in and shook her a few times, which only resulted on a slurred mumble. This resulted in a slap to her face. The young woman moved startled and said, "I'm up."

Lorne knew that the Genii were trouble. He had read the reports of the first attack. Now it was just a matter of time to see how it all played out. They had come out victorious the last time. But back then was just by a thread, so Major Lorne just didn't know which side was going to have the bad night.

Lorne noticed a satisfied look on the Genii guard, as he backed away while Stella seemed to try to keep awake. The Major felt sorry for her, the poor girl was probably caught up on her way to the party. Now someone who never goes off world has to deal with being in the center of a fight with people from another planet.

When she finally opened her eyes she stared at Sergeant Robinson. "I know you…."

"Yes you do Stella. Do you think you can stay awake?" Chuck asked her softly.

Stella looked around in confusion. "I think I'm going to be sick."

At that moment everyone took a step back, leaving only Chuck by her side. Major Lorne moved to sit against the wall, that way he could have a better view of their captors. The guard was talking on the radio with someone named Acteon. Once he finished the guard turned towards the group.

"I know that with the exception of her," Their guard suddenly started as he pointed at Stella, "it was one of you who decided to shut down the console capable of detecting life signs in the city. Now the thing is blocked I want one of you to undo it!"

There was a momentary silence. Lorne knew that his co-workers were not easily scared. The guard seemed to be expecting this, and then from his pocket he took out a small device and placed it against the hand of the first prisoner.

Nothing.

Then he moved to the person right next to him. Again; nothing.

Lorne knew they were screwed; it didn't matter that no one had the gene. He had it. And there he was, just at the end of the line.

Then the guard placed the device in Stella's hand; it glowed. Translucent blue filled the room and at that precise moment she passed out.

Chuck moved Stella, shaking her slightly. As she opened her eyes, Stella giggled and looked around. When her eyes fell on the guard she said, "And you are?"

The guard didn't seem to mind the question as he stood up right as he replied, "I am Jole of the Genii and you have to…"

Before he finished she laughed again. "What kind of a name is that?"

Eyes darted around the room; everyone was giving the scene a bewildered look. Then without saying anything Jole moved in and took her by the arm; he pulled her savagely to her feet. But Stella only swayed and fell to her knees, without making a sound. She then placed her hands on the floor and stared down.

Lorne frowned and glanced at Chuck, then back at Stella. Jole pulled her to her feet again, but Stella could barely maintain her balance. Jole looked at the rest of the group while he held her standing. "What's wrong with her?"

Chuck shrugged and glanced at Lorne. Lorne was doing some quick thinking, everyone else in the group were annoyed and cranky because of the drug but no one like Stella. "She may be having a reaction to your drug." Lorne's eyes fell on Stella. "Stella, what were you doing before they found you?"

Stella rubbed her eyes and replied, "I was…" She was silent for a minute, and then she smiled, "hitting the happy juice."

Jole gave the group a questioning glare. "What does that means?"

Chuck and Lorne exchanged glances, and then Chuck answered. "She was drinking with the others."

Stella swayed again and fell flat on her ass. But that didn't stop her from replying. "Yep, I was drinking with Sgt. Camji and Pvt. Rodriguez, until Kavanagh decided to ruin my night…" Jole grabbed her once again by the arm and pulled her up. Stella kept on talking. "…Telling me to do mankind a favor and leave the male race alone, that it was enough that I had poisoned Bates…." Jole now moved her to the nearest seat. And with a violent gesture she finished, "I should have ripped out that pony tail of his when I had the chance…."

Chuck looked at Lorne. Lorne just rubbed his eyes. "She's high…" he said more to himself than anyone else.

Jole moved Stella towards the chair and sat her down in front of a console. "Turn this on!"

"No, you don't turn me on." Stella said frowning.

"What?"

Stella smirked. "You're cute pal, but I don't go for evil henchmen."

Jole grabbed Stella by the hair and said to her ear. "Turn the console on. NOW!"

Stella's eyes opened as she understood the request but then they changed to worry. "Oh…. But, I don't know how."

"I don't care! You have the gene; do it."

"She really doesn't know; she works somewhere else in the city." Chuck said as he tried to move towards them.

"I don't care, she has the gene." Jole said as he pointed his gun towards the Sergeant.

To which Stella let out a soft laugh. "I'm not that good or courageous."

Jole grabbed Stella by the back of her head and he almost slammed her face to the console as he pushed forward. "Turn the console on!"

Stella stared at the crystals and just stayed there.

Then a voice from behind Jole asked, "What's going on Jole?"

Jole's eyes opened wide, and then he turned around and replied. "Nothing sir, everything is under control."

Stella started laughing out loud; Chuck acted quickly and covered her mouth. The man questioning Jole was no other than Commander Kolya. Jole just kept on talking practically ignoring the almost hysterical laughs behind him. Once Kolya was gone, Jole quickly turned around, which made the Sergeant let go of Stella.

Chuck returned to his original position, but as the soldiers on both sides exchanged glances. Stella was now with her head back and completely asleep.

Jole gave her a slap in the head, which made her jump in surprise. "Do as I told you or they will suffer the consequences."

Stella looked at the console, she just stared at it until everything went black again and her forehead hit the console. Lorne moved in to help her, but Jole pointed his gun at the Major and grabbed her first. He pulled Stella by the hair, waking her up roughly.

"Ahhh… do you really have to pull that hard?" Stella said annoyed.

Jole had enough and slapped Stella, hard. "If you don't do as I told, I will kill them and leave you for last."

Stella remained frozen; she touched her face and discovered that Jole had managed to split her bottom lip.

In the blink of an eye, Stella moved and had grabbed a crystal from the console. She was hitting Jole across the face. Maj. Lorne and Sgt. Robinson were quickly on their feet; one grabbed her by the waist pulling her away from the now furious Jole. The other grabbed the piece of crystal away from her, but not before Stella managed a second slap.

Jole was left momentarily frozen; his face was red, which accented the fresh cuts on his left cheek.

Everyone was now staring at the furious Genii guard, just as he took out his weapon and pointed it at Stella.

-0-0-0-0-0-0

Colonel Sheppard was now walking right into the open shooting up guards with his stun gun.

Ronon went completely still for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Then when his attention was called to the fight on the control center Ronon made his decision. Sheppard knew what he was dealing with, Ronon didn't.

He ran.

Moved with the shadows until he was almost in front of the guard pointing his gun at the young woman Sheppard had introduced to him earlier.

Ronon was faster, the guard was stunned and commotion erupted everywhere. Ronon could hear shots being fired close by, but they were not directed towards him. Changing his gun from stun to kill, he shot two more guards as the kidnapped left the control room. Once the last person was out, Ronon turned as a stunner was fired in his direction. Then he saw Colonel Sheppard.

For a second Ronon considered helping him, but Sheppard was ahead of his own thoughts when he screamed, "Ronon, help them!"

Ronon killed another Genii guard, and then Sheppard screamed again, "Go! That's an order!"

For some reason Ronon followed the order against his instinct. As he moved away from the battle he found the group, and as he found Major Lorne, Ronon said, "We need one of those Ancient detectors."

"Most of them are in the armory and Kolya's men are probably already taking guard over there. But we may find one on the Jumper bay, but we're going to need weapons."

Ronon started walking and a loud thud made him stop. As he turned around Stella was on the floor, unconscious. Sgt. Robinson and another technician picked Stella up and started carrying her.

Ronon groaned; things were going to move slower than he liked. Without a second thought, he regrouped his thoughts and started walking. He led the group to the safest place he could think of; he was going towards his room.

One thing he didn't like was being caught off guard. He never expected the attack, but one thing was for certain, he was prepared.

-0-0-0-

The group stuck on the mess hall was quiet. A lot of guards were keeping an eye to the place. Rodney and Teyla were sitting together looking at their captors. It had been fifteen minutes since they had taken Elizabeth and the inactivity was beginning to worry them.

Teyla tried to keep calm reassuring herself that Ronon and the Colonel weren't captive. They will think of something to help everyone. Her thoughts were interrupted as Colonel Caldwell walked towards them. "What can we expect from these people?"

Teyla looked at the Colonel and Rodney answered for her, "Nothing good."

Instinctively Rodney touched his arm and said nothing else. Caldwell kept silent and sat down beside them.

Suddenly something happened, the every Genii radio exploded in shouting and orders. Half the guards left the mess hall, someone was clearly causing trouble. Rodney moved closer to her, "What do you think? Sheppard or Ronon?"

Teyla listened to the noise and smirked, "Both."

She looked around the room, counting the guards left on the room. Then her gaze fell on the entrance of the kitchens. "Rodney, do you remember how to open the back door of the kitchen?"

"Of course I do… why?"

At this point Caldwell was staring at her too.

Teyla turned to look at them and explained her plan.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter

**A/N: In the past week I've gotten a wave of reviews from my old fics. I don't know why that made me sweep the dust off the stories I have unfinished. Plus I've had some extra time off lately. So hopefully you will enjoy this and I will have more soon. **

**Let's stay positive! :D**

Chapter IX

John walked away towards the gateroom, leaving Ronon behind. If Kolya wanted to see him he will have the chance. Under no circumstance, John was going to allow Kolya to hurt Elizabeth.

He held to his P-90 tightly and moved into the gateroom. John started shooting at the Genii guards. He got the two at the entrance of the gateroom. Catching them off guard helped him a lot and then he shot two more guards. Suddenly, he heard blasts upstairs. Ronon was causing his own mayhem. John knew he couldn't allow Ronon to get caught too, or else they will have no chance of winning this. John turned and shouted across the room, once he noticed that the Runner's intention was to help him. "Ronon, help them!"

Ronon turned to look at the Colonel. John saw it in his eyes; the warrior had no desire to leave. So John shouted again, "Go! That's an order!"

Ronon did as he was told, but John had no time to dwell on it as in that moment the Genii soldiers caught up to him and started shooting back. He had to move quickly, shooting and running across the gate room lower level. He managed to evade the bullets as he walked towards the gate and hid behind it. Taking a peek out more guards poured into the room, right then John knew he was screwed.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Elizabeth was still feeling Kolya's fingers on her cheek. They stared at each other for a minute when suddenly commotion outside drew their eyes to the gateroom. For a moment Kolya seem to forget about her as he watched the fight with almost fascination. Elizabeth followed his line of sight and when she realized John was outside, the floor vanished from beneath her.

Kolya turned to look at her, which sent shivers along her spine. The gunshots stopped for a moment and then Kolya decided to grab her by the arm. He roughly dragged her outside, and then he shouted, "Colonel Sheppard! So nice of you to join us!"

"What the hell do you want Kolya?" Sheppard shouted from behind the gate.

"Why don't you join us up here and we can discuss that!"

"Are you freaking kidding me?" John replied annoyed.

Kolya moved Elizabeth out into the open and placed a gun to her neck, "Either you come in here or she dies."

Elizabeth felt the gun get tighter into her skin just as John dropped his P-90 to the floor. He slowly started to walk out of the safety of the gate. Either Kolya didn't see it coming or he really didn't care about his men. But just as he walked out, John took out his 9mm. He quickly killed two guards near him, and then he grabbed another. "Let her go. I have no problem in dealing with your guards."

"And I have no problem in dealing with her." Kolya replied with a smile on his face. "Come on Colonel, this is not what you want."

Elizabeth looked at John and for one moment their gazes met. Then Kolya said, "I'm tired of this…"

Then Elizabeth screamed as Kolya pointed his gun at John and pulled the trigger.

-0-0-0-0-

Teyla slowly stood up and walked towards the back of the room. The group behind her calculating her every move, making sure the thing went as planned. If this failed, they were going to have a hard time taking back the city. Teyla was good, and she was proud of it. She made her way towards the back of the room. This was proven easier as the Genii allowed them to walk around the room. It was something in her expression and demeanor, which allowed fooling their guards even easier. She moved from table to table, from group to group of people, softly asking how everyone was doing and very subtlety letting the know about their plan.

Still the guard at the entrance of the kitchen was eyeing her suspiciously. Teyla slowly stopped on a table by the kitchen door, and then very suddenly she hit the guard. Teyla slammed her elbow into his jaw.

The man fell flat on the floor completely out, chaos ensued.

Caldwell quickly signaled his men as Rodney moved into the kitchen. Cadman moved in to help them and positioned herself in the kitchen entrance. Inside Teyla moved quickly and stopped in front of an empty wall. Behind her she left the cacophony that was now the mess hall. The people that had to stay behind were making sure that they had a chance to escape. Rodney stopped beside her and started moving a small shelf, "I hope this works, because I've always opened it from the outside…"

Teyla just gave him a stare, he continued, "Ok, it was only once."

"Rodney we do not have much time." She said softly to him.

"Ok, ok…" Rodney said as he moved to take out a panel from the wall.

Half way through, Cadman walked in and shouted, "Ok, whatever you're doing McKay; you have to hurry. They're coming."

Just behind her Caldwell walked into the kitchen, "What have to move! My men can't hold the Genii guards much longer."

Cadman retuned back to the kitchen door just to see if anyone else could manage to leave the mess hall and escape with them.

Rodney's hands were moving quickly on the panel on the wall. He felt the pressure of everyone counting on him opening the door. "In a minute!" Rodney shouted in frustration, right then the door sprang open and everyone inside the kitchen moved out quickly. Teyla placed a hand on Rodney's shoulder. "Good job Rodney. Come on!"

Cadman returned with three more soldiers and shouting, "move!"

Behind her and the soldiers, came through 3 angry Genii guards. One of them was the one Teyla had knocked down and he was looking murderous. Once everyone made it to the outside Rodney quickly closed the door. And with some confident movements he made sure no one would be opening that door anytime soon. They could still listen to the muffled growls of their frustrated captors. Then Rodney turned and looked at the group. "Ok, now what?"

Caldwell looked at the small group and said, "We are nearby the Daedalus, I doubt they have taken control of the ship. But the Genii are most likely to be guarding the entrances."

"But not all of them." Cadman suddenly said as she started walking, "there are a few hidden passage ways. The Genii have no way of knowing about them, and I'm pretty sure they might be sticking to the main entrances."

The group started moving and Rodney added, "Colonel Sheppard and Ronon might still be out there, we should try to contact them."

Caldwell looked at Rodney, "We can do that once we're inside the ship, let's move out."

Caldwell glanced at Cadman and said, "Lieutenant, lead the way."

"Yes, sir." Cadman replied as they walked down the hallway.

-0-0-0-0-

It was hard to move from place to place in the city without knowing what kind of enemy he was facing. Ronon had heard about the Genii from Sheppard but he had never really encountered them. But that didn't slow him down; Ronon led the group straight to his room. Once inside, Lorne helped Chuck place the still unconscious Stella on the bed and turned to Ronon.

Ronon was busy going through his things; Lorne moved towards him, "We should move out in case they're searching the city." The warrior kept silent and handed Lorne a small Wraith stunner. Major Lorne looked at it in shock, "How did you get this in here?"

"I've been collecting them."

Lorne just stared at Ronon, the warrior quickly added, "what? You have a weapon and we need to get more."

The Major answered by grabbing the stunner. Ronon passed around one more stunner gun to Sgt. Smith. Then he took the last one and handed it to Chuck.

A groan brought their attention to the bed, Stella was slowly moving. Ronon moved around the room gathering all the weapons he could find. "What's wrong with her?"

"I think she was drinking before she was drugged by the Genii. It may have caused a bad reaction on her." Chuck replied

Ronon looked around his room; there were mostly scientists and civilians in the group. Which it was going to make matters worse, not everybody was trained into escaping and evading an enemy. Sensing Ronon's worry, Major Lorne approached him. "The Jumper Bay is not that far, it may be heavily guarded but I know some hidden doors and passageways."

Ronon was silent considering the possibility of storming the bay. Then Lorne continued, "We don't need to raid the place, just get in grab what we need and head back."

Ronon nodded, then grabbed a small backpack put it on and walked to the door. Lorne looked at Chuck and said, "Hold the fort until we come back, if something goes wrong try to head to the Daedalus."

"Yes, sir." Chuck replied quickly.

Without saying another word, Ronon, Lorne and Smith walked out the door. The door slid shut quickly after they were outside.

Stella moved once more, the groan more painful. Chuck looked at her, "You ok?"

Her eyes opened, Stella was silent she just looked around the room. Then very suddenly she tried to stand up, but it only got her to fall on the floor. Still she needed to move in a hurry, because she was in all fours. Moving very clumsy she stood up and stumbled into the bathroom.

Chuck allowed Stella some privacy; he knew that people hated being watched when being sick. Then he moved into the bathroom, Stella was sitting on the floor in front of the toilet. She had her elbow popped against the toilet and was holding her head on it. Once she noticed him she said, "I don't feel so good."

"I can see that." Chuck said moving towards her.

There was a momentary silence, where Stella touched her forehead. "Why does my forehead hurt so much?"

Chuck remembered her passing out, "You hit it when you passed out in the Control Room."

"Oh, God, I feel like someone was hitting me."

Chuck frowned, but decided that telling her the stuff she blacked out could wait. Instead he offered his hand. "Can you walk?"

Stella looked around as if considering her position, and then she took it. Once on her feet, Stella was a bit unsteady. He helped her moved towards the sink, once she finished rinsing up they walked back into the room. Stella sat on the bed and placed her head on her hands.

Chuck looked around the room and at Dr. Phil Berben and Sandra Giuliani who, with him had the bad luck to be on the control room at the time it was taken over. They seemed anxious, but kept themselves together. Which was good, the night was anything but over and Chuck knew it.

They waited for the rest to return. It was the longest half an hour Chuck ever had.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Ronon, Major Lorne and Sgt. Smith were pretty good, as they evaded some of the Genii guards patrolling the halls. Lorne took the lead, getting into some dark and weird hallways. These had no windows and were much smaller, but they were out of the way and very functional.

Physically evading the guards was the easy part, hoping that the sensors were still off was something completely different. Lorne had no idea if they got them up and running and there was an ambush waiting for them just ahead.

But as they approached the Jumper Bay door, Lorne was relieved to see no one waiting for them. He opened the door and prayed to God that the door was blocked as usual from the main doors of the bay. The small door opened with a swift swoosh, Ronon looked inside. Lorne looked around and then back at Ronon; he signaled pointing the two guards by the main doors. Ronon nodded, and then he pointed out the guard that was hidden to the right of the bay.

"We should be able to make it to the jumpers on the left side." Lorne whispered.

Ronon nodded, and then he signaled Smith to stay on the door while he and Lorne went inside. Smith nodded and took his place by the door, while Ronon and Lorne slipped inside.

They made it quietly towards the jumper on their left. Once inside Lorne took the life signs detector and checked quickly into it. Ronon went for any bags or containers which might hold any kind of weapons. All he found was two 9mm and some ammo for the guns and two p-90's. But that was it.

For a moment Lorne stared at Ronon and then at the DHD inside the jumper. It crossed their minds, to fly the jumper out of there. But then Lorne shook his head, it was a good escape plan for just the two of them. But it wasn't the best idea for the rest of the people in the city. Still, Major Lorne moved towards the console and placed his hand on top of it. The jumper's screen came to life, only to shimmer and turn off. Whatever had blocked the city's sensors was interfering with all Ancient technology.

Ronon looked to the outside of the jumper. The bay seemed strange to be so quiet, and then setting his head back into gear, Ronon walked out to the back of the jumper. Only to find Lorne with his hands up as one of the Genii guards pointed a gun at them. Without saying a word and before the guard could talk to his radio Ronon took out his weapon.

He shot the guard without hesitation, and then he moved to the outside and surprised the remaining Genii guards.

All three guards were down, and it wouldn't be long before their friends find out about them. Ronon looked at Lorne. "Let's go."

Lorne just nodded and walked towards their hidden exit door.

Their walk back towards Ronon's room was made in complete silence. There was nothing to say, the Genii will be more careful from now on. They will know that there are people running free in Atlantis.

Getting to the Daedalus was now their priority.

-0-0-0-0-

Walking through the door on Ronon's room, all three of them looked as if in a hurry. Chuck stood up and stared at Ronon, the warrior was the first one to speak, "Everybody up! We need to move."

"What happened?" Sandra said

"Let's just say that the Genii will soon know there are still soldiers running around." Lorne said quickly.

"Why?" Chuck asked in concern.

"I killed three of them." Ronon said as he handed everyone a gun or a small wraith stunner. Lorne and Smith had kept the p-90. Then Ronon moved towards Stella and handed her a knife.

She looked at it in dismay, "Come on, I could handle a machete." Stella said more to herself, than to anyone in specific. That's when she noticed that Ronon was still staring at her. Stella seemed to shrink, gave him a nervous smile and said, "I'm good."

Ronon turned and took out a rope from under his bed. Lorne checked his p-90 making sure he had enough ammo. "What now?" He asked Ronon.

"We're going to the Daedalus." Ronon replied as he adjusted his backpack with the rope.

-0-0-0-0-0-

The gun resonated in the room and then there was silence. Silence that was broken by John's painful shout as the bullet hit him just above the left knee. The wound took him unexpectedly and made him loose his grip on his hostage.

John placed a hand on his wound, but it filled up with blood pretty quickly.

Elizabeth tried to release herself from Kolya's grip, but it only got her to be shoved harshly into the office. A guard was placed on the door while Kolya walked towards John. As he stepped down the stairs Kolya looked at the Colonel, "Is it too much to have a polite conversation with me?"

John breathed hard, "There's nothing polite about you Kolya."

Kolya seemed to study John, "hmmm… yes, I think you're right." Then he nodded to a nearby guard.

The guard move in closer to John and hit the Colonel with the butt of a shot gun right in the face.

And then all was black.

-0-0-0-0-0

Rodney was feeling anxious; they hadn't encountered any Genii guards. But no one from their side either. Cadman had led them through some unfamiliar passageways. At some point she said that Sheppard had told her about them and from then on she had memorized where they were.

This whole situation was bringing bad flashbacks to Rodney. The Genii and specially Kolya were the reason for many nightmares right after the whole storm deal was over. He tried to keep them down, not to let the memories surface and turn his worries into irrational fear, but it was hard.

Sheppard and Ronon were MIA, and Elizabeth was with Kolya.

Rodney prayed that she was alright.

The entrance to the pier where the Daedalus was parked was getting near. Teyla looked at him, as if reading his mind she said, "They will be alright, Rodney. We don't know if Colonel Sheppard or Ronon were caught. They might be on their way here now."

Rodney slightly nodded. Pretending to be a shadow in your own city was a depressing thought. Because once again they had to reclaim their city; from the hand of an evil megalomaniac.

As they arrived near the entrance, Rodney noticed how there were way too many guards. It would be near impossible to go through as they had no weapons.

Something was happening, Cadman and Caldwell exchanged looks. Teyla looked at Cadman then back at Rodney. She directed Rodney to a pair of guards apart from the ones on the entrance.

They were talking fiercely on the radio. Something big was about to happen. Then suddenly more than half walk out to the pier, leaving only one guard by the door. Rodney mused at their arrogance. They really thought that they had the Atlantis team completely at their mercy.

They were wrong.

Caldwell made some signals to Cadman, and she moved back and out into view.

For a moment Rodney wondered what they were planning.

That was until he saw Cadman pretending to get caught, only to smack the guard on the face when he got too close. She quickly disarmed the guy and waved at them. "Quickly! Come on." She held the gun tight as she signaled the door to open.

Rodney moved with the group, but as he took his first look to the outside he stopped.

The pier was a battlefield.

It was hell.

-0-0-0-0-0-0

When John finally came back to the world of consciousness he was tied to a chair inside Dr. Weir's office. Someone had placed a tourniquet, but blood was still dripping down his leg. Also John felt pain across his pace and was pretty sure that the left eye was starting to swell up.

Inside the office there was Elizabeth and Kolya.

The sick bastard was smirking at him. "Colonel Sheppard… welcome back. Cooperate and you might make it out of this alive. If you don't I'll just kill you and once I'm done with you I'll start with her, so please don't make this harder than it already is."

John looked at Elizabeth; she was in turn staring at him with worry. He was pretty sure he wasn't looking very good right now. Meanwhile Kolya eyed John with interest. "Tell me the address of your home planet."

"Kolya… screw you!"

A fist was slammed on his face, making John see stars for a moment. He shook his head trying to get rid of the stars and then looked at Elizabeth… A couple of hours ago they were worrying because Caldwell could have been suspecting something was going on between them and now they were fighting for their lives.

John knew Ronon was on the loose giving Kolya's men a run for their money. But he didn't know what happened with Rodney or Teyla, Carson or Caldwell. Even the rest of the people in Atlantis, they could be dead for all he knew. But John decided not to dwell in those thoughts.

Life was great; she just waited for a moment of peace to stick a knife in your back right after putting a bullet in your head. Always needing to make sure the damage fell where it most hurt. Right now for Sheppard was to have Elizabeth in the room while Kolya took joy in beating him.

The silence had brought in more punches to his face, which John was sure; one of them had managed to break his nose. "Ok, tell me how to activate the life sensors."

John kept quiet and looked down as Kolya moved in closer, "tell me and I'll keep quiet about your little romance with Dr. Weir."

Apparently gossip was also a profession among some on the Pegasus Galaxy. And word had reached him that Sheppard had someone to warm his bed. All Sheppard knew was that if anything happened to Elizabeth; Kolya was going to suffer.

He was mentally rambling and John knew it, that last hit to the head really took him off balance. His vision was graying, the voices were echoing, Kolya was grabbing him roughly by the chin. That hurt, he couldn't feel the bounds on his hands, or the bumps on his face, but he could feel the Commander's fingers. Maybe it was the punches to the face or the blood he was loosing. But he was seeing now Kolya with clown make up on. John smiled, "You sir, are the worst looking clown I've ever seen."

John let out a laugh as Elizabeth looked at him in utter worry. Yes, Kolya had managed to kill a few brain cells, but he didn't care. Every second he remained awake, it was a second that Kolya didn't put his filthy hands on Elizabeth; his Elizabeth.

Then lights went out, he couldn't see, someone called his name and then the lights were on again. His neck felt to be in a weird angle, but was because he passed out with his head back. John stared at the ceiling, there were tiles. He didn't know that there were tiles on Elizabeth's office, it was cool.

Someone walked in his line of sight and it was ugly. Kolya again with the questions…

John cursed.


End file.
